You deserve to have good hair days — and that doesn’t change if your hair becomes thinner or is shedding. Thinning hair that sheds more can happen to women at various stages in life. It can happen while taking certain medications, undergoing intense stress, or because of hormonal changes that occur postpartum and during menopause. A genetic predisposition to hair loss is also common, though women aren’t encouraged to talk more about this.
If you’re experiencing thinning and have bald spots, you may already be speaking to a dermatologist or trichologist about possible culprits and solutions, and that’s great. But you also need to get up every morning and face the world — and you want to feel and look your best.
These five hairstyles won’t require the skills of your stylist and can be achieved all by yourself in 10 minutes or less. Best of all: they look gorgeous and elegant and can help conceal areas of sparseness on your scalp.
Half Up/Half Down
The half up/half down hairstyle doesn’t receive the praise it deserves. This style is everything to everyone with longer hair — it allows you to retain length, while boosting the appearance of volume, thanks to more hair pulled up around your crown. Plus, it couldn’t be easier to achieve: gather the sides of your hair up and secure them with a pretty clip or barrette. If you prefer even more height, tease your crown slightly and comb it back before securing the sides of your hair.
High Ponytail
When was the last time you considered wearing a high ponytail? This sophisticated look works for thinning hair that’s on the longer side because it covers bald spots and creates the illusion of more hair. The trick to getting this ponytail to look more voluminous is to secure your hair up high and then loop strands of your hair under and over the top of the elastic band so that they actually cover the elastic and provide more height to the style.
Imperfect Parted Hair
Here’s a styling trick for all hair lengths: instead of parting your hair in the middle or to the side, create a messy, imperfect part that can’t readily be identified. The reason this hack works is because a lot of scalp sparseness can be seen when you part your hair. By removing the perfect part from the equation, your hair better covers your scalp and makes bald spots less noticeable.
Low, Messy Bun
The bun is the ultimate elegant, low-maintenance hairstyle — and we love it for thinning hair because it masks all signs of sparseness when styled correctly. Instead of parting your hair down the middle or side, tease it just a bit at the crown and comb it back. The trick to making this bun look chic is to keep it slightly messy by pulling out a few strands here and there. Add a pretty sparkly clip to punctuate this look.
Waves and Curls
Adding texture like waves and curls is instant volume — and this can help make thinning hair look healthier and fuller. If your hair is not naturally curly or wavy, don’t add intense heat to create this look, as this can damage strands and result in more breakage. Instead, look to heatless curlers and wave solutions, which are ubiquitous these days. Many of these heatless solutions are applied to damp or even dry hair and work in as little as an hour to a few hours to create a whole new, voluminous style.
